Just the FAQ, Jack!

Navigation

User login

Please Note:

Anonymous users are allowed to read content and comments. To be given the opportunity to post comments and stories, and be allowed other access, please register with our site.

ABOUT OUR SITE: 43rd State Blues: Democracy for Idaho is a website of, by and for Democrats and those who lean towards Democratic, progressive causes. If you do not fit this broad category, or are simply anti-Democrat, we suggest you find a website more suitable to your ideology. Our house, our rules. Enjoy!

Syndicate

Idaho Republicans Validate Arizona's Ethnic Cleansing Motives

Submitted by Sisyphus on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 3:19pm.

Updated below

Idaho Republicans just can't help embarrassing themselves by providing continuous examples for making our fair state live up to its reputation as a haven for xenophobes and racists. The Bonner County Republican Central Committee wrote a letter(.pdf) to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer proudly proclaiming it's affirmation of Arizona's controversial and unconstitutional immigration law. Then they note:

The theme of this year’s fair is the Spanish word for celebration: “fiesta”. The Republicans at BCRCC want to make it very clear that English is our primary language, and call our booths “Celebrate!” We’d like to display some Arizona license plates if you have some to spare.

Never mind that the word "fiesta" has long been incorporated into the American nomenclature. Or that Spanish was spoken in Idaho centuries before Lewis and Clark uttered the words "oh, shit", and other choice expletives, after summiting the continental divide and seeing miles of Idaho wilderness instead of a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. Indeed the history of Hispanic influence in Idaho is manifest.

Spanish explorers made trips to the Northwest beginning in 1592. Spaniards introduced pigs, horses, domestic fowl, tomatoes, beans, corn and garlic to the Native Americans of the Northwest. Lewis and Clark were the first Euro-Americans to set foot on what is now known as Idaho. They encountered Spanish-speaking Native Americans as well as those who spoke their tribal language. They were followed by French-Canadian fur trappers; resulting in names of communities like Coeur d'Alene (French for "heart of an awl") and Boise (Le Bois-French for "the trees").

***

Mountain men, including some Spaniards and Mexicans, lived off the land as trappers and hunters. In the 1860's, there were a number of Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) living in the Treasure Valley. By 1863, Mexicans were mining at Spanishtown, a camp near Rocky Bar. Jesus Urquirdes, one of several successful Mexican business people, came to Boise in 1863, became a prominent Pacific Northwest packer and built the Spanish Village in 1870s to house his Mexican packers. The 1870 census included 60 Mexican-born individuals.

This is more than a bunch of rubes putting their ignorance on display for the nation. This is a full blown validation of the perception by Idaho Republicans that Arizona's immigration law was designed to purge America of Hispanic ethnicity. Some people have compared BCRCC's efforts to the trite Republican tactic of renaming French Fries to "freedom fries." The consequences of demonstrating hostility to Hispanic ethnicity are much more violently tangible. Its another example of small people struggling to know who they are better than. And plenty of Idahoans find this to be an example of Republican racism.

This broke yesterday and has already gone viral. Would Bonner County have Boise State return their Fiesta Bowl trophies?

-----------------------------------

Updated 7/9: In case you're not up to speed on the baseless fear mongering engaged in by Governor Brewer, John McCain and the rest of the Irrational Right check out this piece by Milbank in the WaPo.

The Arizona governor, seemingly determined to repel every last tourist dollar from her pariah state, has sounded a new alarm about border violence. "Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she announced on local television.

Ay, caramba! Those dark-skinned foreigners are now severing the heads of fair-haired Americans? Maybe they're also scalping them or shrinking them or putting them on a spike.

But those in fear of losing parts north of the neckline can relax. There's not a follicle of evidence to support Brewer's claim.

of the Italian name Amerigo, and probably a Spanish one at that. But what more fitting symbol for America than to have such a misfit moniker for a mess of mutts. I'm reminded of this speech.

So we're all dogfaces, we're all very, very different, but there is one thing that we all have in common: we were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army. We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us - we're soldiers. But we're American soldiers! We've been kicking ass for 200 years! We're 10 and 1! Now we don't have to worry about whether or not we practiced. We don't have to worry about whether Captain Stillman wants to have us hung. All we have to do is to be the great American fighting soldier that is inside each one of us. Now do what I do, and say what I say. And make me proud.